Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser., 1887-04-15

lime SAID Johnny. Laughing
"why, could list n all day, and you
can begin just anywhe e. think
your" aw wfuI jolly"
well, I'll try not to be dull, re
piled the Sunbe.m. Sunlight, you
know, is the brightest thing known
brighter than the calcium or the elec
trio light-even brighter than your
little red he ID. Ii you want to know
how many burning candles it would
take to equal the total light of the
sun | have the figures all ready for
you,'
+ Johnny seized his pencil and drew
/ his slate toward him.
( Write the figures 6 and 3 and aid
to them twenty six ciphers, which
will give YOU six octilion, three hun
drel septllion $500, 900, ,000, ,000,0 ,000,-
600. GOO, 600. 900 and that is the mum
Der Of candles .vou would require il
you were going to rig up an artificial
sun of your own. by the way, you
would need some coal too; for sup
pose you are aware that the sun does
not belong to the frigld order of crea-
ton"
HIS scorcher.' said Johnny.
why. the last time | was in swim
ming hr bisterrd my back; you can
Just ask Willie Fuller if he didn't"
well, If you were going to get up a
sun of your own. YOU would have 10
burn ll,G00. 600, 900, 100000 tons OF
CO | every sec7nd Of time in order to
quail the heat of the sun"
eleven quadrili'n. six hundred
tsillon tons" said Johnny. "Oh,
thst couldn't be possible,
The figures are not mine. but Pro
fessor Prpctor's," said the sunbeam.
( |"Of course It ls more than your little
red head can take IN. I'm not hlt
surpris Il that you feel inclined to
doubt the statement. Why, the
mount Of heat the sun sends 10 the
earth every dav Is enough to toll an
ocean Of ice water sixty miles deep
and Covering the who'll earth, aud vet
t ~ IS only lIttle dab In proportion
I to the entire amount that IS given
out"
And is the sun really made OF
coal. asked Johnny, contidrntially.
why. bless You, no. If ii were
com posed # solid coal it would burn
on, IN less than SIT thousaa.l years
some say in FIVE thousand. Ii Is not
made up Of anything solid, your
friends the astronomers say.
"l,s. remeb-r now" said johnny.
i vas kept after school two nights
for that. and So, not to forget it, |
wrote IL down on this corner Of nv
Irsk: mere 1t is: The sun is a ball
Of gas or vapor powerfully condensed
IN the central portion by the superln
cumbent weight, but prevented from
liquefacrion by an exceedingly high
temperaturr," Johnny groaned. Tn
only words could remember in that
we're ball and gas.
but it is no, supposed to be ball
Of thin gas like our air, remarked
The Sun beam. but about as thick as
tar, or some say Jelly. and others put
tv. or course ! could let out the
whole secret. and tell exactly what it
is like, but | don't want t. steal a
march on the learned men. Concern
ing It's hlsh temperature, Professor
Young says, if YOU could cover the
entire sun with tea inches of ice il
could turn IL Ia water III second, o.
further still, il II were possible to
build a solid column of ice from the
earth tO the suu-uiuetv three mil
lion mills high and two miles and n
quarter in dIametrr--th sun could
melt even that In one second ii all
his power could be concentrated on
that particular spo', For its heat is
equal to the burning of layer OF hard
coal about four inches thick every sec
ond Of time.
Tine lrusth Of your day on the
earth is twenty four hours. continued
the sunbeam. "hut the sun is so big
1t takes him al, ut twenty five of our
DAYS to turn ar,und. He is pretty
important parsonage, this sun. he
bosses all the other planets, and keeps
them IN their places. and they are
completely under his influence. 1t is
II sort of mysterious power he possess
Is, You know, this power that holds
these planets Just at the proper dis,
tance from him; they call it gravita
tion in the books, believe; but that
does not need to scare you, you may
forget the word if you choose. They
have figured out just how great the
attraction is between the Gun and the
earth. Now. Johnny. if it were pos
slble Tor you to do as do, and travel
the whole distance t. the sun YOU
would say that YOU really could see
nothing to keep the earth from tumb
/ ling clear down to the bottom of space
no ropes, no chains of any kind
Aud you would be right. And We,
the sun holds the earth in its place
just as securely IS if there were nine
heavy steel telegraph wires to every
square inch Of the earth's surface
to thai half of the earth surface fac
ing the sun. Not nine wires, mind
you, little red head, but nine to each
square inch-about as thick as the
blades of grass upon "a lawn. This il
lustrafion comes from another of those
"dull' astronomers, Mr.. G. b. War.
+ ring.
"And now | will really have to be
going home. If | were as slow a trav
eler us some folks | would have had
to say god bye long ago. If you
were to t'y to walk the distance be
tween here ard the sun and walk roul
miles an hour and keep it up for ter
hours every day it would take yor
NOR" tran $500 years to accomplish
it. Even Il train going at the rate o
sixty miles an hour day and nigh
without even stopping an instant 70